The Earthquake

Dieudonne Lutumba  

ESL- INTGR100 

October 4, 2020 

 

 

                                                          The Earthquake 

A quick power shift forever changed the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Whatever the length of the night, the sun always ends up appearing”, said an old French adage. In 1997, they changed the name from Zaire to Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the country had a political revolution that led the country through many changes in different ways. The country was in a dictatorial system where the president like a lord was above the law and had all the executive's prerogatives and legislatives.  The coup d'état of May 1997 has its particularity and the impact on my relatives were unimaginable. However, the looting and destruction of the different companies didn’t stop our life. Everything went well, despite some difficulties for my relatives that tried to adapt to the new political system. Thus, the economy was affected and led my father into the bad economic situation. Furthermore, my father was one of the people affected by this situation when I was in high school. He experienced an unforeseeable bankruptcy which led my relatives to leave my hometown for Kinshasa. 

The first effect of the coup d'état was the currency devaluation.  My father and most people kept their money at home instead of keeping it in the bank. When the coup d'état happened, the new political system changed the name of the country that led to new currency which caused a big loss for the economic operators like my father. In addition, our company Muntuntu S.P.R.L was the one that offered good sales service for construction materials, and it was the victim of looting and destruction. That was the cause of bankruptcy my father had known. Moreover, the money was Zaire money, and the bank where my father had an account had the same problems as us. That bank didn’t have insurance in order to cover the risk of destruction and the currency devaluation that my father was a victim. On the other hand, the new president Laurent Desire Kabila ordered to printed new money that affected the exchange rate. My father whose share capital of the company was evaluated at least of $ 100,000,00 saw the bankruptcy of Muntuntu S.P.R.L like the fall of the great Titanic in the water. Additionally, my relatives didn’t believe in this revolutionary movement. As a result, we had hard time changing our money in Congolese Franc, the new money printed. Because of our own security, the exchange rate didn’t help my father to have the same value of money. We wondered what our money will become if the coup d'état was overturned.   

In addition, my siblings lost their job because many investors left the country, and most companies closed their activities after the coup d'état. As a result, that situation led my siblings to lose their jobs and occupations. Moreover, the macroeconomic framework was no longer favorable for investors who were mostly foreigners, and the political crisis forced companies to stop their activities, so fear of losing everything investors went back to their country. That terrible situation affected the purchasing power of my relatives, and the scarcity of certain basic necessities led the economic operator to increase the prices on the market. In fact, my father had a problem purchasing enough food for the family which can satisfy the whole family. It was the worst year that my relatives had known in their life. We not only lost the company and money, but also the purchasing power and my siblings became unemployed. Thus, I still remember as if it were yesterday how our great mother have to multiply her efforts to manage to give each child enough food. 

Finally, my father like other economic operators didn’t trust the new political system in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The new president tried to gain people’s trust despite that the economic system was no longer favorable, and he organized the meeting with the economic operators national and foreign operators in order to reopen the economic sector. However, my father was embarrassed, so he didn’t have the courage to reopen Muntuntu S.P.R.L. Besides, the president thought getting close to his people would reinsure them and to help them get over their fear and go back to their normal lives. Hence, some companies were getting help from the Congolese government relating to financing, but my father didn’t accept that help which led him to leave our hometown to Kinshasa where we though the life was back to normal. Consequently, in April 1998, we moved to a new city and my father start again the Muntuntu S.P.R.L activities. My siblings found news jobs, and our life had another twist.   

Change cannot be easy to accept, but it is sometimes necessary for the country to develop. People can lose their jobs, money, and lives in order to change the destiny of their nation. When I think about the coup d'état in Zaire, I still see in my memories the first moments of my relatives excruciating suffering and the beginning of accepting the reality of the revolution. The courage led my relatives to rebuild what was destroyed. My father was our hero who helped my siblings to have a fabulous future due to his success with  Muntuntu S.P.R.L company.